For all its surreal, dreamlike qualities, Kafka’s fiction often inhabits the world of ordinary working life. In The Metamorphosis, travelling salesman Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find himself transformed into some kind of monstrous vermin. Yet one of the first things he thinks about is what an ‘exhausting’ job he has.

The protagonists of Kafka’s two most famous novels both have desk jobs. Josef K. in The Trial and K. in The Castle are white-collar workers – what some social philosophers have called ‘the cognitariat’. They are people whose labour is cerebral; who think for a living.

Josef K. is senior administrator in a large bank; K. is a land surveyor, and both are presented as diligent and respectable workers. In The Castle, K. is so conscientious that he remains bewilderingly determined to carry out his duty as a land surveyor, even after he's informed that he was summoned in error and no surveying is required after all.

In The Trial, Josef K. discovers one morning that he is under arrest ‘without having done anything wrong’. He knows neither what he is accused of nor who has accused him. The two men who turn up at his boarding house to inform him don't know either – their role is merely to tell him. When he is summoned to his first hearing, the courtroom is nightmarishly difficult to find and, once there, nobody else really seems to know who he is or what he is charged with.

Josef K.'s freedom is not limited by his ‘case’ – it doesn't interfere with his job and he seems free to go about his daily business – but a feeling of responsibility looms over everything he does, from his work to his amorous pursuits and social interactions. When no notification comes for him to attend a second hearing, he goes anyway, compelled to face his accusers though he doesn't know who they are. Josef K.'s plight expresses something of what Jean-Paul Sartre meant when he famously wrote that 'man is condemned to be free.'

Kafka began writing The Trial in 1914, just as he had broken off his engagement with Felice Bauer. Many readers are spurred by Elias Canetti's interpretation of the novel, and Kafka's own pronouncement that it was 'her book', to read it as a response to the limitations to his creative freedom and individual self-consciousness that Kafka felt marriage might bring.

For Kafka, institutionalized life – whether the propriety of marriage, the necessity of employment or the system of justice that governs both – have an effect similar to Samsa's transformation. He wrote to Felice: 'beware of thinking of life as commonplace, if by commonplace you mean monotonous, simple, petty. Life is merely terrible… . Often – and in my inmost self perhaps all the time – I doubt whether I am a human being.’

The condemnation of Josef K., and K.’s nightmare-like feeling of the responsibility that ordinary work instils in institutionalized humans sheds light on something Kafka wrote (again to Felice) in 1916: 'To be free from the office is my only possible salvation, my primary desire […] the fever that heats my head day and night comes from lack of freedom, and yet as soon as my chief begins to complain that the department will collapse if I leave […] I cannot do it, the conditioned official in me cannot do it.’

K. and Josef K. show us this 'conditioned official' – and the absurdity of his condition.

Music Theatre Wales perform Philip Glass's operatic adaptation of The Trial in the Linbury Studio Theatre 10–18 October 2014. Tickets are sold out, but returns may become available.

The production is a co-commission and co-production between Music Theatre Wales, The Royal Opera, Theater Magdeburg and Scottish Opera.

This week, the first set of Creative Employment Programme trainees will start their positions in cultural organizations across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex. The traineeships, offered exclusively to young people not in education, employment or training aged between 16-19, offer participants their first chance to work in the arts.

Paul Surridge, 16, from Clacton is about to start his traineeship with the Colchester Institute. Paul left school last year with no qualifications and is hoping this traineeship will be the start of a career in sound and lighting.

‘I want to be a technician as I have always enjoyed watching light shows and seeing how lights connect with the music,’ he says. ‘I feel very excited that I have the next ten weeks to find out all I want to know about sound and lights from the technicians supervising us.’

As well as gaining experience, the trainees will work towards Level 1 qualifications, including a Bronze Arts Award. They will also spend at least 12 days working in cultural organizations and will visit the High House Production Park - the location of the Royal Opera House scenic workshop - and attend a performance at Covent Garden.

At the end of their placement trainees will have support with the next stage of their career, whether progressing to a college course to start a Level 2 qualification or looking for suitable employment opportunities.

The Creative Employment Programme aims to create 1,600 traineeship opportunities across England by March 2015. To help reach this goal, ROH Bridge will create 100 traineeships across Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and North Kent over the next year.

The Royal Opera House would not be able to offer the wide range of apprenticeships for young people without the generous support of The Derek Butler Trust, John Lyon’s Charity, The Headley Trust, Gordon Foundation, the Ashley Family Foundation, the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers Charitable Trust and an anonymous donor.

The Royal Opera House recently held a prize-giving ceremony to congratulate apprentice Sabrina Clarke on completing an 18-month apprenticeship with the Armoury Department, the team that produce all of the magnificent weaponry seen on stage.

Creative and hard-working, Sabrina showed unwavering commitment and enthusiasm to learn and develop her skills, which have recently been showcased on stage in an epic new production of Les Troyens. For the staging, Sabrina was tasked with creating hundreds of leather belts, holsters, and daggers for the large cast of singers and actors.

"I used skills involved in both metal work and leather work to create weapons, but there is also a certain amount of research needed to make sure everything is historically accurate – there is an extensive collection of books and models here in the Armoury which we use for reference!"

During the lead-up to the production she was able to achieve a Level 2 ABC Award qualification in Leather Goods Production. As well as receiving training at the Royal Opera House, Sabrina spent three months at the Mulberry factory, under the tuition of leather goods industry experts, developing and honing the leather working skills that are required by armourers, as well as an industry-leading fashion brand.

From wig makers and tailors to scenic metal workers and painters, The Royal Opera House employs a huge range of highly skilled staff employed in traditional crafts. The apprenticeship scheme, which was launched in 2007, provides places for up to eight young people every year, offering the chance for them to gain high-quality vocational training with some of the best in the industry. If you are interested in the scheme, take a look at the Areas of Interest Form on our website - if you fill in out we can let you know when opportunities are coming up.

Following the completion of her apprenticeship, Sabrina hopes to undertake some work next season with the Armoury department, as well as travelling to Italy in search of work with an Italian Opera House or theatre. Equipped with the invaluable skills and experience she has gained during her time at the Royal Opera House, we are certain Sabrina has a promising future ahead of her in the theatre industry – we wish her well!

To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, the Royal Opera House recently invited staff, college tutors, friends and family to attend a prize-giving ceremony congratulating our latest group of graduating apprentices.

The work of three apprentices was celebrated at the event - Community Arts Apprentice Shaun Bajnoczky and Technical Theatre Apprentices Louis Hector and Andrew Hulstrom.

For many talented young people like Shaun, Louis and Andrew, getting a first job in the arts is a challenge and as such we are proud to offer a pioneering and well respected apprenticeship programme. This provides places for up to eight young people each year to gain high-quality vocational training, learning from people within our organisation who are some of the most highly skilled in the industry.

Having worked as a casual in our Technical department after leaving school, Louis Hector jumped at the opportunity of gaining formal training at the Royal Opera House and of working towards a qualification in technical theatre. Thanks to the John Lyons Charity who fund our Technical Theatre apprenticeships, over the last 18 months Louis has spent time working in several areas within the technical department – lighting systems, sound and broadcast, both in the Linbury Studio Theatre and on the main stage. Since the apprenticeship began, he has studied for his NVQ at City and Islington College and achieved an NVQ Level 3 in Technical Theatre (Lighting, Sound and Rigging).

“My apprenticeship has been a very positive experience where I have been able to learn new and varied skills that will be invaluable to me in the industry. Everybody here took time to teach me what they knew and I feel very lucky for having had this experience.”

Like Louis, Andrew Hulstrom also worked across many of the technical departments, particularly enjoying his time working with the lighting and sound and broadcast departments. Having already completed a City and Guilds Level 2 and 3 in Electrotechnical Technology, Andrew came to the Royal Opera House with an excellent grounding in electrics that would stand him in good stead for some of the work as a stage technician. For Anna Nicole, Andrew was responsible for wiring up a very large fridge on set which contained a rather substantial 4Kw worth of light, which certainly lit up the stage!

“I will relish the fact that my work will now be seen all over the world on future Anna Nicole productions. I have been challenged every day of my apprenticeship and I look forward to building on the knowledge and skills I have acquired in whatever role I do next.”

Shaun Bajnoczky spent two years with our Education Team in Thurrock, his first job after leaving further education and completed a Level 3 Award in Community Arts Management:

"The apprenticeship has been an amazing experience. I have enjoyed being part of an exciting and vibrant team and being local to Thurrock, I have loved being able to take the work of the Royal Opera House in to the community.”

Previous Royal Opera House apprentices have achieved continued success in the sector, making costumes for the Olympic Opening Ceremony, painting scenery at the Sydney Opera House and gaining employment within the organisation. As they come to the end of their time at the Royal Opera House, we are certain that Louis, Andrew and Shaun have equally promising futures ahead of them. We wish them well!